Engage Cymru is the leading membership organisation for gallery education in Wales and has over 70 members, including gallery and museum educators, teachers, local authority officers and artists.

Engage Cymru promotes gallery education through advocacy, regular area group meetings, networking and professional development training events, and through its research projects.

Arts & Business Cymru Award 2019

Congratulations to Western Power Distribution who won the Business and Brand Identity 2019 award for their partnership work with Engage Cymru, The Gate Arts Centre, Music in Hospitals and Care, the National Museum and the Riverfront, Newport at the Arts and Business Cymru Awards on Thursday 11 July 2019.

Western Power Distribution also won the Admiral Business of the Year Award, with the following statement made upon the reception of this award:

WPD’s focus is clear: a commitment to the community it serves and the most vulnerable members of society within it… from the small Pembrokeshire based Engage Cymru’s dementia friendly art galleries to National Museum Wales’ Big Pit, WPD’s sponsorship has enabled community activities, improved understanding and found a new way to tackle social isolation.

The judges congratulated WPD on its clarity in effectively communicating messages while supporting such a variety of arts organisations across Wales and agreed that the many partnerships stood as a real model of excellence in the field.

Engage Cymru is proud to partner with Western Power Distribution and grateful for the support we receive. Congratulations to all of the winners and nominees recognised by the Arts & Business Cymru Awards.

Wales Arts Health and Wellbeing network website launched

WAHWN, the Wales Arts Health & Well-being Network, is coordinated by Engage Cymru with funding from the Arts Council of Wales. It is a rapidly expanding network with almost 300 arts and health professional members. 90 members have participated in Creative & Credible arts and health evaluation training over the past year, aimed at supporting colleagues to deliver robust and credible evidence of their work.

Thank you for this training, its helped me massively to understand how to evaluate and underpins the importance of getting the language right with consideration to different audiences.

Creative & Credible delegate

The WAHWN website was launched this year as part of the Bangor University, ‘Building a Collaborative Artistic Research Community’ conference. Any Wales-based members delivering arts, health and well-being focused work can sign up for free, upload their profile, view and post opportunities, blogs and a wide range of resources in the Knowledge Bank section. Take a look at the website at wahwn.cymru

Engage Cymru is delighted to announce a further successful funding award from the Arts Council of Wales to deliver training and networking events over the coming year. More details to follow shortly.

Engage Cymru has also been successful in its application to the Arts Council of Wales to support a programme of work aimed at young people at risk of offending, offering opportunities to achieve an Arts Award, in partnership with Theatr Clwyd in 2019.

This work will build on and consolidate earlier Engage Cymru programmes with young people at Parc Prison Youth Offending Institute and Hillside Secure Unit and respond to recommendations in the Youth Justice Board’s ‘Charlie Taylor’ Review which advocates for meaningful activity as one way of preventing offending behaviour.